Archaeologists have discovered a group of structures at the famous Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
They probably belonged to a residential complex inhabited by the elite of the sacred city founded in the 5th century AD.
Archaeologist Francisco Perez Ruiz said there were no known residential groups in Chichen Itza, meaning that the residential complex represents “the first residential group where a ruler lived with his entire family.”
The area known as Chichen Viejo will be integrated into the visitor area of the Chichen Itza archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the near future.
The newly discovered complex includes the Entrance Arch, the House of the Snails, the House of the Moon, and the so-called Palace of the Phalluses.
Researchers at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) hope that this area and those yet to be discovered can shed light on the lives of the people who inhabited the city.
“There must be more residential groups that have not yet been explored. The study of these marginal groups around the central part could give us information about other families and other groups that made up this great city,” said archaeologist Jose Osorio Leon.
The area has been explored since 1998. Officials say about 2 million people visit the site of Chichen Itza in southeastern Mexico each year.